The WNBA is going with a shooting stars competition instead of its skills challenge, pairing one former great with a current player in the league on Friday night as part of All-Star weekend.<\/p>\n
Seattle will be represented by Lauren Jackson and Flau\u2019jae Johnson. Washington will have Elena Delle Donne partnered with Shakira Austin. Dallas, which started out as a franchise in Detroit, will pair Jessica Shepard with Deanna Nolan. Minnesota will have Rebekkah Brunson playing with Courtney Williams.<\/p>\n
Each team will also include a standout high school player from Nike EYBL, bringing together three generations of women\u2019s basketball in one competition. <\/p>\n
The Nike EYBL participants are Jezelle \u201cGG\u201d Banks, Ryan Carter, Tatianna Griffin and Morghan Reckley. Honorary general managers for the WNBA All-Star Game, Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon, will serve as designated passers, with Cooper distributing the ball to two teams and Weatherspoon passing it to the other two teams.<\/p>\n
The format is a two-round, timed shooting competition in which teams have 70 seconds to score as many points as possible from seven shooting locations around the court. The competition features shots ranging from a layup to a 3-pointer, with the two teams posting the highest scores in the opening round advancing to the championship round.<\/p>\n
The shooting stars winners will get $15,000. Each competitor will receive $7,500.<\/p>\n
Last year the winners of the skills contest each received $2,575 from the WNBA. <\/p>\n
The league announced the participants of the 3-point contest<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n